Thessaloniki Airport Makedonia is the third-largest airport in Greece after Athens International Airport and Heraklion International Airport respectively. It first started operating in 1930 and was a very busy airport as it was served over 6 million passengers. Nowadays, apart from being the main airport of Northern Greece, Makedonia Airport is really important as it is the primary linkage between Thessaloniki and Halkidiki, a very attractive tourist destination.
Fraport’s Vision
In 2017, Fraport Greece started an ambitious plan in order to reconstruct 14 Greek airports, investing around 400 million euros. The main target of Fraport is to improve the overall customer travel experience, by upgrading the airport’s facilities of the following terminals: Aktion Airport (PVK), Chania Airport (CHQ), Kavala Airport (KVA), Kefalonia Airport (EFL), Kerkira Airport – Corfu (CFU), Kos Airport (KGS), Mykonos Airport (JMK), Mytilene Airport (MJT) – Island of Lesvos, Rhodes Airport (RHO), Samos Airport (SMI), Santorini Airport (JTR), Skiathos Airport (JSI), Zakynthos Airport (ZTH) and Thessaloniki Airport (SKG).
Among the developments of the airports are the expansion of Thessaloniki Airport, Corfu, Kefalonia, Kos, and Mytilene airports as well, including the construction of new passenger terminals, the increase of the number of check-in counters, the number of security-check lanes, the number of departure gates and the number of aircraft parking stands.
The future of Thessaloniki Airport “Makedonia”
As part of the whole renovating plan of Fraport Greece, belongs the expansion of Thessaloniki Airport as well. The initial plan was the new terminal to be completed in 2021, giving to the city of Thessaloniki a totally new image. As mentioned before, the investment of Fraport Greece was 415 million euros in total for all 14 regional airports, while €100 million allocated to the reconstruction of Thessaloniki’s Airport.
The investment includes the development and modernization of “Makedonia terminal”, making improvements that will increase operational capacity, additional baggage delivery belts, multiplication of the security lanes and increase in the number of terminal gates.
More specifically, Fraport’s project includes the construction of a new second terminal, the renovation of the existing terminal, the improvement of the waste-water treatment plant, the construction of a new fire station, the reorganizing of the airport apron area and the reconstruction of the airside pavement.
This project of renovation and expansion of 14 regional airports is the biggest investment in Greece’s tourism industry, with tremendous benefits both at a local and national level as well. Fraport Greece’s investment will also contribute to the growth of tourism and consequently to the general economic development of the country.
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